1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an alumina-silicon carbide nanocomposite for ball bonding capillaries of a wire bonding device and method of manufacturing such an alumina-silicon carbide nanocomposite and, more particularly, to an alumina-silicon carbide nanocomposite, having high strength and toughness and being preferably used for ball bonding capillaries of a wire bonding device, the bonding device used for electrically connecting conductive traces to the input/output pads of a semiconductor chip during a semiconductor package manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, an automatic wire bonding device in the fabricating processes of semiconductor packages is used for electrically connecting a lead frame, ceramic circuit board, printed circuit board, etc., which is used as an outer connecting passage of a package, to input/output pads or dies of a semiconductor chip with gold or aluminum wires. In such an automatic wire bonding device, a ball bonding wire, having a thickness of 1.0-1.3 mil(1 mil=1/1000 inch), is received into the fine hole of a capillary which is requisite for wire bonding processes. In such a wire bonding process, the capillary is primarily heated to about 200.degree. C. with a heat source. The capillary is secondly heated to about 270.degree. C. with vibrations of ultrasonic waves, which are generated by a transducer. The capillary is also operated under a discharge state caused by a high voltage discharge blade, thus forming bonding balls. That is, the capillary has to be subjected to a coarse atmosphere during a wire bonding process so that the capillary has to be made of ceramic, suitable for enduring such a coarse atmosphere.
A sintered alumina(Al.sub.2 O.sub.3) having a purity of 99.99% or more, has been used for such a ceramic capillary. Such a pure sintered alumina preferably has a high strength of about 330 MPa and is suitable for conserving the manufacturing cost of capillaries. However, such an alumina has a low rupture toughness of about 3.0 MPam.sup.1/2, thus deteriorating the operational reliability of resulting capillaries. Also, the durability of the alumina is deteriorated at a high temperature because the strength of the alumina is rapidly reduced at such a high temperature. Therefore, the life span of such a pure sintered alumina is shortened due to such a thermally reduced strength, thus increasing the manufacturing cost of packages.